Joseph Rosh ha-Seder

(276 words)

Joseph ben Jacob Rosh ha-Seder was an Iraqi scholar who was active in Egypt during the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. His Hebrew title roshha-seder (head of the row) is one of the honorifics bestowed by the Babylonian authorities on local officials who demonstrated loyalty to them and their institutions. Joseph’s father, Jacob, was a disciple and emissary of the gaon Samuel ben Eliand the author of a number of halakhic works, including one on the laws of ritual slaughter. In Egypt, Joseph earned a living as a copyist, a profession that required frequent travel. Docume…